black list

Idioms  

1. A list of persons or things considered undesirable or deserving punishment, as in Japanese beetles are on my black list of garden pests. The practice of making such lists is quite old. Notorious examples include the late 19th-century black lists of union members whom employers would not hire and the black lists of persons suspected of being Communists as a result of the hearings held by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy in the early 1950s. Today the term is also used more loosely, as in the example. [Early 1600s] Also see black book, def. 1.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

black list

Saturated fat has been taken off the black list.

From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026

The data protection agency said that the tax authorities stopped using the black list in February 2020.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2022

Sheng Xue learned the Chinese government had her on its black list in 1996, when she tried to return to Beijing.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2019

Those on Beijing’s black list, the officials said, include the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and two leaders of the World Uyghur Congress, Dolkun Isa and Rebiya Kadeer.

From Reuters ● Oct. 6, 2015

After the Embassy raid my position became extremely precarious, for I was now on the black list and being searched for.

From Nelka Mrs. Helen de Smirnoff Moukhanoff, 1878-1963, a Biographical Sketch by Michael Moukhanoff

Related Words

• censure
• criticism
• denunciation
• discontent
• dislike
• displeasure
• dissatisfaction
• objection